User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Super Mario 3D Land Review
What's up my Shreks, it's me DiamondMinerStudios here again for yet another review. This time, I'm looking at a game I've been meaning to review for a while now - Super Mario 3D Land. I don't have any history this time around, so let's jump straight in. Story The story is very much on par with other Mario games. Once again, Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser, so Mario sets out to save her. Eventually, he makes it to Bowser's castle and rescues the Princess. It works well enough. I mean, it's a Mario game, the story doesn't have to be a masterpiece for the game itself to be good. Gameplay It is, once again, a 3D platformer. One radical change to this fact, though, is that this game is structured more so like a 2D Mario game - instead of completing missions to get power stars or shine sprites, this game has you going through very linear levels to reach a flagpole, just like the original Super Mario Bros. from 1985. This game's controls are not that great from my experience. For the most part, they feel ok, but a few things are... off. For one, I find that Mario feels much slower in this game than other 3D entries. For example, in Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and both Galaxy titles, Mario's running speed felt just right - not so fast as to overcomplicate simple platforming, but not too slow as to make the game tedious to go through. In this game though, Mario feels slow even at maximum speed. This isn't a huge deal, as it isn't unbearably slow, but the difference is noticeable. The much bigger issue is Mario's jumps. In a nutshell, they feel way to floaty, but somehow manage to have almost no momentum or reach at all at the same exact time. This, once again, isn't that huge of a deal, at least for the first half of the game. However, by the time you reach the later worlds where the game throws more tricky platforming at you, it becomes more of an issue. This alone can make the game tedious to complete, but there's still more. Sometimes, I swear that pressing right just does nothing. I can remember two seperate occasions where I was bullshitted out of a life just because the controls decided not to respond at the absolute worst moment. Another thing that can cause some annoying deaths is the collision mapping and detection. For example, even though you for sure landed on a platform or dodged an enemy, the game says "nope" and decides that you didn't, either giving a cheap hit or even a death. I would single these out as minor issues, but there's one thing that increases their offensiveness - the star coins. In most Mario games, star coins are optional ''collectibles that you use to unlock optional content. In this game, for some stupid reason, star coins are made a ''mandatory collectible. Which you need 90 of to actually beat the game. I can't tell you the amount of time I wasted dying over and over dealing with the clunky controls and physics on the awkward form factor of the 3DS trying to collect these things. Obviously, if you die, you lose all of your star coins in that level. This made this game go on for far too long, and made it a chore to finish for me..... but I powered through and did it. I got 90 star coins, beat Bowser, and finally saved Peach..... except I didn't! Because they decided to throw a nasty curveball and put another level in there (which is easily the most annoying level in the game with some really wonky physics-based setpieces) and a castle which requires 100 star coins to access. So that meant that I had to go back and once again slog my way to 100 star coins. Once I did that, I managed to beat the boss..... until they throw another phase in there!' Christ, can this game end already?' Finally, though, I beat the final boss in one of the least satisfying conclusions in a platformer. All that tedium later, I'm still somewhat unsatisfied with this game, leaving me with a more negative perception of it than most people. Difficulty Even despite all those issues mentioned in the previous section, this still is one of the easier 3D Mario titles. Unfortunately, these issues make the game tedious for me. Since I've pretty much identified the issues, I'll just quickly point out the good - the game's levels, for the most part, are good enough, even when factoring in the limited controls and physics. The bosses are also ok, but a bit on the easy side. The perfect way to summarize the game is this - it does general things well, but when I sit down and analyze the fine details, I find that this game doesn't compare to most other entries in the series. You could also call it a watered-down Super Mario Galaxy, because that's exactly what it feels like to play. Even then, that's being quite generous. Soundtrack This soundtrack is good enough, but overall I think it makes the game more generic and stale. The main theme of the game is actually pretty damn good, but everything else is very forgettable. This situation is just like DKC3 - the soundtrack works, but it ultimately makes the game somewhat boring in comparison to other entries in its respective series. Graphics This game looks pretty nice for a 3DS game. The models and textures are of decent quality and look nice, especially on the original screen. The colors are bright and saturated, and there is a nice usage of anti-aliasing. This is in stark contrast to Super Mario 64 DS, whose ugly colors and lack of anti-aliasing led to a game that overall wasn't that great looking. Conclusion I feel pretty mixed on this game, which is unheard of for me regarding a Mario title. On one hand, the graphics are nice, the soundtrack is decent, and some of the levels are quite enjoyable. However, the issues like the wonky controls and physics, a lot of tedious levels, and the star coin progression gating prevent me from fully enjoying this game. Still though, can I say that I hate this game? No, I can't. I just don't like it all that much. So yeah. There's my opinion on this entry in the Mario series. In the next post, I'll either be reviewing Spyro 1 or 2 (depending on which I finish first), and after those are done, I'll either review Super Castlevania IV or get a few new games to keep myself occupied. A game that will definitely get a review is Super Mario Bros. 3, which I hope to beat soon. In any event, see you guys next time. Category:Blog posts